Origin and debate of the Escazu Agreement in Peru

• Autor: Gamboa Balbín, César Leonidas
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2021
• Institución: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Repositorio: Revistas - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:revistaspuc:article/24401
• Enlace del recurso: http://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/Kawsaypacha/article/view/24401
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Natural Resources Sovereignty; Sustainable Development; Environmental Democracy; Rights of Access; Participation,; Environmental Justice; Peru; Soberanía sobre los recursos naturales; Desarrollo sostenible; Democracia ambiental,; Derechos de acceso; Participación; Justicia ambiental; Perú

2020 marks the beginning of Covid 19 and due to a polarized political environment; in which was inserted the ratification of the “Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean”, or better known as the Escazu Agreement. This debate took place on social networks such as in the Foreign Relations Commission of Congress sessions that finally shelved the executive's request for ratification of said international human rights treaty. This article will focus on clarifying some of the main arguments produced in the public debate about the convenience or not of the Escazu Agreement, from the principles, regulations, and practices of international environmental law. Criticisms, doubts, and concerns towards the agreement focused on formal and substantive arguments. The first ones focused on how the regional agreement had been negotiated and the roles of the actors involved in that process; the underlying ideas were around its normative and axiological foundations and its possible impact on the principle of state sovereignty over natural resources. By rigorously distinguishing the political and legal arguments for and against this international treaty, we will be able to clarify doubts about its origin and its impact on the principle of sovereignty of natural resources.